U.S.-China showdown inevitable

Beijing 2008 - Women's gymnastics

August 11, 2008|By Diane Pucin, Tribune Olympics Bureau

BEIJING -- The contrast is stark.

There are the Chinese women gymnasts, tiny tots so light and lithe yet so fiercely unafraid they will throw themselves, all 73 pounds, one, two, three times off the uneven bars in a whirl of speed that makes it hard to count the tricks.

There are the U.S. women gymnasts, taller, older, carrying the aches and pains from hundreds of practices, years of pounding.

Chellsie Memmel has an ankle that throbs. Alicia Sacramone is taped from knee to foot. The Americans offer both the power of Shawn Johnson's thuddingly ferocious balance beam routine to go with the finesse of Nastia Liukin's elegant uneven bars work.

Two U.S. women, defending world all-around champion Shawn Johnson and nine-time world medalist Liukin, qualified first and second in the all-around qualifying. But the Chinese team finished ahead of the U.S. women by 1.475 points in Sunday's Olympic gymnastics qualification round.

On Wednesday there will be eight teams in the team finals but, based on the results of the last world championship and the qualifying event here, only two will battle for gold.

China and the United States.

After finishing second to China in the qualification round by the score of 248.275 to 246.800, the defending world-champion U.S. team is heading off to lick its wounds, practice its landings and polish its confidence.

The Chinese women walked through an interview area with their heads down Sunday.

"The coach tells them not to talk," a translator says.

The U.S. women spent 30 minutes dissecting their mistakes and emotions.

Why did Memmel fall off the uneven bars Sunday? "Just a mistake," she says.

Why did Sacramone step out of bounds on her floor exercise? "I threw myself too hard on my two and a half," she says. "I still want a do-over."

By taking only the Sunday scores of the three likely competitors for China and the U.S., China would have won the gold medal by less than a point -- 147.970 to 146.550.